I dig your attitude 100%. It's what I often find different between designers and developers. Developers open-source so much of their work. Designers cling to it like a piece of themselves. I like to see designers becoming much more sharing with their work. A great designer can continue to apply the right solution to the challenging problems and that is what makes them great.

If I'm playing devil's advocate though, say the business man, designer's have to put food on their table too. And if they do not profit from their work than they could be cheapening their profession.

There is a right balance to strike, but either way there is no room for ego in the equation. Well said brother.

"It doesn't matter where you take it from, but where you take it to."

Hmmm I think it’s important to not see things in black and white. Sure the customers are who you are building for. But is your importance zero? No.

Bitbucket should not have ripped you off in the way you suggest. They didn’t contact you. The winner from doing that is potentially their customers, as well as their owners/shareholders. By using others they increase their chances of continuing to serve those customers in years to come. And they possibly decrease yours, as what did you get out of it? Nothing.

We've wrestled with this exact thing in the past. It's hard to deal with at the time, but seems silly and insignificant in retrospect.

This post is spot on.

Damn.